St Louis Cardinals vs Cleveland Odds, Picks, and Probable Pitchers
- Cleveland is a -120 home favorite over the St. Louis Cardinals in an afternoon interleague game set for Wednesday, July 28
- The Cards beat Cleveland 4-2 on Monday for their first win in the city since 2015
- St. Louis is 7-4 since the all-star break
As interleague rivals, Cleveland (49-49, 25-23 home) and the St. Louis Cardinals (51-50, 23-30 away) don’t see a lot of each other on the baseball diamond. In the all-time series between the two teams Cleveland holds a 19-13 advantage. That includes a 7-5 edge at Progressive Field.
St. Louis is on a two-game winning streak there. They won 4-2 on Monday to go with a 2-1 victory on May 14, 2015. So, were you to really stretch a point, it could be pointed out that the Cards are unbeaten there over the past six years.
Oddsmakers don’t foresee this run of success holding up for St. Louis. It’s Cleveland that the -120 home favorite for Wednesday afternoon’s series wrap-up between the two ballclubs. Cleveland is 20-9 straight up as the home chalk this season.
Cardinals vs Cleveland Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Runline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals | +100 | -1.5 (+160) | O 9.0 (-110) |
| Cleveland | -155 | +1.5 (-190) | U 9.0 (-110) |
Odds as of July 27th at DraftKings.
First pitch of Wednesday’s game is set for 1:10 pm ET. Cloudy skies and rain are in the forecast. Game-time temperature should be 76 degrees with 7 mph wind.
Kim vs Plesac
| 6-5 | Record | 5-3 |
| 2.88 | ERA | 4.30 |
| 3.76 | xERA | 4.17 |
| 1.12 | WHIP | 1.08 |
| 2.28 | SO/W Ratio | 3.16 |
It’s been a while since Cleveland right-hander Zach Plesac personally tasted defeat. His last lost was registered on April 20th. Of course, it should be noted that he missed the entire month of June while out with a freak injury.
Upset following a rough outing against the Minnesota Twins, Plesac angrily tore off his shirt. His thumb hit a chair and he fractured it.
Zach Plesac discusses the team's forthcoming name change.
"I'll be thankful to put whatever jersey on. Indians. Guardians. To represent Cleveland just means everything."#OurCLE pic.twitter.com/5qWw0RVMYy
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) July 24, 2021
Plesac started the season 1-3. However, he’s 4-0 over his past nine starts. To suggest that they’ve all been stellar outings would be misleading.
The team is 6-3 over Plesac’s last nine starts. Twice in his last four starts he’s failed to make it beyond the fourth inning.
He surrendered nine earned runs over his past 16.2 innings of work. Plesac has also been touched for eight home runs in his last four starts, a span covering 27.1 innings.
https://twitter.com/StickyCheck/status/1418405574140641281?s=20
On June 30, left-hander Kwang Hyun Kim launched a five-start winning streak. That’s the longest unbeaten run by a Cardinals starter since Mark Mulder won seven in a row in 2005.
He’s worked at least five innings through each of his past six starts. Kim has allowed just two earned runs over his past four starts, covering 25 innings of work. In three of his last four starts, he didn’t allow a single run.
In the span of a month, he’s dropped his ERA from 3.98 to 2.88.
Batting Average vs Starting Pitchers
| Cleveland Batters | Batting Average vs Kim | Cardinals Batters | Batting Average vs Plesac |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bobby Bradley | .000 | Nolan Arenado | .000 |
| Yu Chang | .000 | Harrison Bader | .000 |
| Ernie Clement | .000 | Dylan Carson | .000 |
| Austin Hedges | .000 | Matt Carpenter | .000 |
| Cesar Hernandez | .000 | Paul DeJong | .000 |
| Daniel Johnson | .000 | Tommy Edman | .000 |
| Oscar Mercado | .000 | Paul Goldschmidt | .000 |
| Roberto Perez | .000 | Andrew Knizner | .000 |
| Harold Ramirez | .000 | Yadier Molina | .000 |
| Jose Ramirez | .000 | Tyler O’Neill | .000 |
| Franmil Reyes | .000 | Jose Rondon | .000 |
| Amed Rosario | .000 | Edmundo Sosa | .000 |
| Bradley Zimmer | .000 | Lane Thoma | .000 |
There’s not much to report here other than a whole bunch of goose eggs. Jose Rondon of the Cardinals is the only batter to have previously faced the opposing pitcher. He’s 0-3 lifetime against Plesac.
St. Louis-Cleveland Pick
With Tuesday’s loss to St. Louis, Cleveland has dropped four of its past five games. Four of the last five Cleveland-St. Louis games have gone over.
The Cards are 28-24 against the spread on the road this season. St. Louis is also 6-16 straight up through its last 22 away games. Four of the Cards’ last seven games were decided by one run.
St. Louis has won three of four SU from Cleveland.
Kwang-hyun Kim is on a roll! 5 Ws in a row and 0.72 ERA in the month of July. His confidence is all time high. He looks like a diff pitcher now w/ better command of changeup! #STLFLY https://t.co/t8lrHLcUDt
— Daniel Kim 대니얼 김 (@DanielKimW) July 23, 2021
Kim is currently pitching so well that it offers the Cardinals a significant edge in this game. During his last five starts, Kim has checked opposing hitters on a .155 batting average over 30 innings of work He’s also showing a 0.90 ERA over 30 innings through that span.
Kim has allowed one extra-base hit, a double by Jake Marisnick of the Chicago Cubs, over his past 121 batters faced.
Pick: St. Louis Cardinals (+100)
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
